Several Hurt as Rough Air Strikes A Delta Airlines Plane into Sydney, Australia

Several people have been injured following a Delta Airlines aircraft traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney experienced significant turbulence Friday morning.

Delta Flight 41 "went through a short bout of rough air" as it landed at Sydney Airport, a company official informed. Four flight attendants were injured.

Emergency medical services stated they assessed five individuals, and took three of them to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that included back pain and migraines. Those affected were between their 30s up to the 70s.

The event represents the newest example of commercial jets being hit by severe turbulence, with researchers pointing out that global warming is a significant contributor.

There were 245 people and 15 crew members on the Airbus A350, the representative added, stating that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at the airport at shortly before 7 a.m. on the day in question.

The NSW Ambulance Service indicated they received a call just three minutes before the plane landed, and response teams were ready and waiting at the airport.

Why in-flight bumpiness is getting more common - and more severe.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when a separate Delta aircraft, flying from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "considerable" turbulence just a couple of hours into the transoceanic journey, and had to make an precautionary landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight experienced a frightening five seconds of severe turbulence. One passenger died and many were hurt, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and fell back down.

In-flight turbulence is fairly routine while flying, and while cases of strong or severe turbulence appear to be increasing, they are remained quite uncommon.

Research indicates that there are an estimated 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a overall number of over 35 million flights that now take off globally.

Severe turbulence is defined as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft going through disturbed air exert greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to throw you from your seat if you weren't wearing a safety belt.

As global warming modifies atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that air travel could become more turbulent: warming trends and shifting wind patterns in the upper atmosphere are expected to increase the regularity and severity of severe turbulence.